Our epic browser battle finally wraps up with our conclusions about the state of the art

We're almost at the end of our browser analysis. We've looked
at startup
and install times, memory and CPU
usage, and performance in synthetic
benchmarks. Along the
way we've discussed numerous aspects -- security, user interface, and
plug-ins, to name a few. Now we have two final topics to look
at -- how the next generation browsers fare in rendering tests and how
well they support the latest web standards.
8. Rendering Tests

For the first rendering test we measured the time it took to load all
the images from a Google image search. This test likely gave
home court to Google Chrome, but this is unavoidable as running a
Yahoo/Bing search could similarly favor Microsoft's IE 8.
Since Google is the most commonly used search (it currently is used for
approximately 60+ percent of search traffic), we decided to use it.

We noticed that the first image search in Google consistently takes
longer in most of the browsers. So we separated this result
and compared the first load for all the browsers. For each
browser we searched for the word "CO2". The performance of
Chrome 2 (the current edition) was actually only mediocre.
Chrome 4, though, managed an extremely fast load, just ahead of Firefox
3.5. Internet Explorer performed quite well, coming in
third. Safari 4 and Opera 10 tied for fourth.

After this initial test we did two more searches, the first for "Pen"
and the second for "CPU" and we averaged the results. In this
warm search, yet again Chrome 4 barely led, with Firefox, Safari, and
Internet Explorer all obtaining relatively fast results as
well. For some reason Opera 10 performed very poorly in these
subsequent searches. It took 2.2 seconds on average, over
twice as long as its nearest competitor, IE 8 (1 second).

As a final rendering test we loaded up Acid3. Acid3 is a
diverse web standards test which focuses on graphical
aspects. All of the major web browser developers have worked
with the Web Standards Project on Acid3, so its somewhat of an industry
standard. Opera 10, Safari 4, and Chrome all passed the test,
with a perfect score and the expected rendering. Firefox
3.6a1 and 3.5 managed near perfect scores. Internet Explorer 8 lagged badly behind, scoring a
mere 20/100.

It appears that for simple rendering, Google Chrome and Firefox (and
the Webkit/Gecko engines they are built on) are the best.
Opera and Safari both offer decent performance, as well. IE 8
offers good performance in rendering pages based on simpler standards
(like Google image search) but is badly behind in more advanced
rendering, due to its lack of support for the latest standards (more on
that to follow).

9. Standards
SupportStandards
Summary: Looking at
graphics formats, Javascript, and web technology standards Opera is
doing the best job keeping up with new web standards. Firefox
is a solid second. Internet Explorer 8 lags considerably,
though this lack can somewhat be remedied via plug-ins.

An important thing to consider, though is that better web standards
support doesn't necessarily mean more pages will work for your
browser. In our experience Firefox and Internet Explorer 8
provide the best page compatibility. In IE 8's case this is
because despite the fact it doesn't support the latest standards, as
the market leader, most webpage developers first tailor their pages to
work with it. Often browsers like Opera/Chrome/Safari may
implement the standards near flawlessly, but web applications designed
with the IE 8/Firefox duopoly in mind won't work well in these
alternative browsers.

Browser

Nav LINKS

CSS 2.1

XHTML 1.0

XHTML 1.1

MathML

Xforms

Web Forms 2.0

VoiceXML/X+V

DOM 1

DOM 2

DOM 3

Opera 9.6

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Partial

Opera 10.0

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Partial

Firefox 3.5

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Partial

Firefox 3.6

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Partial

Chrome 2

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Partial

Chrome 3

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Partial

Chrome 4

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Partial

IE 8

No

Partial

No

No

No

No

No

No

Partial

No

No

Safari 3

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Partial

Safari 4

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Partial

Browser

JPEG

JPEG 2000

PNG

APNG

MNG

TIFF

SVG

2D Canvas

XBM

HTML 5 Support

Opera 9.6

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

No

Partial

Yes

Yes

Moderate

Opera 10.0

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

No

Partial

Yes

Yes

Good

Firefox 3.5

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

No

Partial

Yes

Yes

Good

Firefox 3.6

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

No

Partial

Yes

Yes

Good

Chrome 2

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

No

Partial

Yes

Yes

Moderate

Chrome 3

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

No

Partial

Yes

Yes

Moderate

Chrome 4

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

No

Partial

Yes

Yes

Moderate

IE 8

Partial

No

Partial

No

No

No

No

No

No

Poor

Safari 3

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Partial

Yes

Yes

Moderate

Safari 4

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Partial

Yes

Yes

Moderate

10. Conclusions

After extensively using, benchmarking, and testing the next generation
browsers, the only clear take home message is that they each have
unique strengths and weaknesses. Chrome is rather secure and
is the fastest browser, but it lacks the broad selection of plug-ins
Firefox has. Firefox has good compatibility with most pages,
a broad array of plug-ins and is relatively fast.

Internet Explorer 8 isn't as fast as the other next gen offerings and
lacks standards support, but it is still compatible with more pages, in
our experience. It also is very secure, which is good for
beginning users. Opera 10 features a full-featured user
interface, leading standards support, and decent speed.
However it lacks plug-ins and still trails in security.
Safari doesn't really stand out in any one category, but Safari 4 was
frequently the second fastest browser in testing. For fans of
Apple products, its a solid selection.

Really, what we suggest is downloading two or more of these alternative
next generation browsers and trying them out for yourself.
Opera 10, Firefox 3.6a1, Safari 4, IE 8, and Chrome 4 are all exciting,
well crafted products.

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